Dirty Laundry

For more on the Elevated Envelope project, please start with the post below.

We sent out a malicious clothes dryer with some laundry.  See?  They're peeking through the door.  The heat setting dial is a photo of a chicken's eye.

We put our elevated envelope in another envelope to protect it since that acetate and silver paper might not have held up through international mail.  The "protective wrapper" was printed with images of a dryer's internal workings and an owner's manual.

Our surprises included three bookmarks featuring the occupants of the dryer.

Tofu made the Lint Monster who is quite pleased with itself.

Mischief made the Shrunken Sweater who seems quite distressed and embarrassed.

I made the very Lonely Sock who has lost its mate in the drying cycle...but seems to have moved on.

We had so much fun with this project.  The kids enjoyed making the first fuzzball and first shirt, but it took a bit of urging to complete four of the same thing, especially with the bustle of the school year.  It was all worthwhile to see our random scribbles become...laundry with personalities.  Plus, we received a message from an artist in Australia who said that the wicked dryer gave her family the giggles.

Elevated Envelope Surprises

In October we participated in the Elevated Envelope swap hosted by Ephemera.  Several times during the year, Tara at Ephemera hosts an international art envelope swap.  We thought about this for a long time since so many of the entries were astoundingly fabulous.  Some people painted original art; one person embroidered the skyline for each recipient's town; others made letterpress creations.  We were in awe and nervous since the guidelines said that participants should bring their A game.  The theme for the October swap was "Malicious Surprise."  We talked it over, Tofu, Mischief, and I, and talked it over some more.  I tend to obsess.  We decided that we could do this, and it would be a collaborative project.  You can sign up for around ten exchanges, but we signed for four, which meant that we found four spectacular surprises in the mail

Our first envelope came from an artist in Australia.  She generously sent each of us a treat: spider and cobwebs for the boy, a hairband for the girl, and chocolate and tea for me.  So thoughtful!

The second envelope came from a graphic artist and teacher in Canada.  We actually squealed out by the mailbox when we found this petite enveloped.  Hand-drawn robots and rockets...awesome!  Our treat was a  print of an original linocut.  Mischief Maker particularly liked the pumpkin.

Three monsters brought this itty bitty envelope to us.  Hand-painted paper and hand-drawn creepies.  Even the Australian stamp was fun!  This artist said that participating in the swap encouraged him to pick up his pens again, and we delighted that he did.

This envelope took so much planning and thought and work.  We admired everything from the paper textures to the various lettering styles.  What was inside?  Was it enough that three creepies greeted us on the outside?

Meet three more creepies!  Fabulous!  We loved it all.

Tara sent every participant an envelope too.  Look at those eyes!  Plus, the glossy, drippy-feeling ink was creepy too.

Aha!  The treat was a postcard from a cat named Henry.  We had great fun with all the creepy cuteness and spent a lot of time ooh and aahing over the artworks from our talented exchange partners.  What did we send out?  Alas, we were late by a couple of weeks.  Onto the next post.

Care Packages with Care Bears

One of our little friends is staying with grandparents for the week of Thanksgiving while her family is going on an important trip to a developing country.  This little one will enjoy Thanksgiving surrounded by lots of loving aunts and uncles and cousins, much more fun and safe.  Yet she undoubtedly will miss her parents.  To help add to her holiday festivities, we are sending her happy mail.  Everyday Tofu Girl writes a note, and then we tuck in fun things like stickers, scratch art, and beads into whatever packaging we have on hand, like a file folder.

Inspired by the Givers Log's Thirteen Ounces or Less mailing experiments, we sent off a small, lightweight toy in its original packaging.  Taped it well; stuck on a bunch stamps and an address label; and that was it.  For me, one of the challenges to sending out stuff is finding a box or envelope.  Since we are mailing stuff everyday for a week, with zero time to track down shipping supplies, we have really had to think outside the box (yup, seriously).  If all of this works, I might send out gifts and such on time instead of months later.  Surprise!

Pumpkinheads

Tofu Girl's design...with some of the lower mouth chewed off by a squirrel or some other creature that wanted to feast on fresh pumpkin.

Mischief Maker's design

Ready to greet trick-or-treaters

When Auntie Visits

My sister is visiting for a few days.  She went shopping with the kids and sent me this photo:

The kids seem to be having fun, but really, out of the three, my sister got the most chuckles from these turkey-dos.

At the Table

The MailMeSomeArt blog opened a swap for painted papers.  The call was intriguing, but I could not decide what to do until I saw a demo of applying gesso over writing.  I wanted to try a version of that!  On the very same day, one of my students mentioned her interest in Thoreau's and Emerson's ideas regarding charity.  Hmm...big ideas are great; focused ideas are even better.  She ended up writing about Charles Loring Brace's orphan trains program which she found astounding.  And we both could still think about Thoreau.    

Here, a few handwritten lines from Walden became the background for the painted pages, topped with layers and layers of gesso and water soluble painting crayons (that's what the tin says; I inherited them).

Tofu Girl joined me at the dining room table which is more often set with things other than plates.  She always has a project in mind and is more familiar with our canisters of markers and pencils than anyone else. She thinks about colors and made herself a color swatch book of sorts.  It's actually a jar of the names and samples of colors on scraps of paper.  I wondered why one couldn't simply open a box or jar to see the names, but silly me, she carries the plastic jar around.  Much easier to hold one jar full of colors than many containers of pens and pastels, right?  Plus, when I open a tin, I am already searching for a specific color, but Tofu seems to be inspired by the colors themselves, thinking about them in relation to others and in various shades.  She watched as I mixed the paint crayons with gesso and gave me tips: "This yellow, not that one. You're covering up the words with too much red!  Oh...you're wiping it off.  That's better."   

 

Then her brother came in to see the pages drying.  "That one has too much white still," he said, pointing; he liked the pages with stronger splashes of color.  "Nooooo," protested his sister vehemently.  They were about to argue about which ones were "better" when I said that pages were finished and that was that.  ...It sounded just like dinnertime around here.  At least we usually agree on dessert.  

BumbleDogs and the Halloween Pet Parade

What would get me out of bed bright and early on a Saturday morning?  Usually, we arrive near the closing of a nearby farmers' market...and head for the baked goods stand before visiting the other tables. (The bakery lady is actually a farmer.  Lucky for us, she has left the selling of local vegetables and meats to the other farmers and instead, concentrates on making a wide range of delicious, old-fashioned breads and cookies.)

We were on time (can you believe it?) for a pet parade on this particular morning.  The most popular costume for dogs this year was the bumblebee.  All dogs this time too; last year, we saw alpacas and even a baby goat.

This little t-rex won a prize.  Cute.  From this angle though, it looks like the dinosaur has wrapped its tiny arms around the dog and is nibbling on his head.  ...Did dinosaurs ever nibble?

I think the parrot was crowd favorite too.  The dogs were so sweet, keeping on the costumes and gamely participating in the parade. 

Princess Jasmine.  She had on a whole harem outfit.  Who knew such costumes existed?  The purple color suits this happy dog.

This guy next to us barked and cheered.  He was very excited (too excited to parade, his mum said).

Fresh cookies, hot coffee, and party dogs = a good morning.